The Fallout
by savvyshipper
Summary: Post-Apocalyptic AU: Six and John are driving outside of Paradise when the bombs hit. Whats going on? And will they find any survivors? And most importantly, how will they survive?
1. Chapter 1

Two minutes before the world ended, the sky was a bright blue. Not a cloud in sight. I was in the car with my best friend John jamming out to some old C.D.s that Henri had left sitting around. Guns and Roses, I remember.

Two minutes later, it all went to hell. The whistling of bombs cut through the air. John looked over at me fearfully, his hands still on the wheel. "Maren". Just my name. The whistling got louder and I shoved his arm "Move!" I scream, John startled and unclipped his belt, and threw himself out the car. I did the same. The whistling had turned to a shrill scream. We both dived into a ditch at the side of a road, just as the bomb hit the car. The ground shook and the noise made my ears ring. Dust and ash rained down on us.

I don't know how long we waited in that ditch, breathing through our t-shirts. It was silent for a while after. Completely silent. John looked at me, his clothes soaked and covered in ash. "Do you think its safe?" He ventured to ask. As if to answer, the whistling started up again. Now we knew what the whistling meant. Bombs. These ones sounded far off though. I army crawled back up to the side of the road. The car was completely decimated. A few twisted pieces of metal were the only things left. I stood up, and walked over, seeing if we could salvage anything. There was nothing.

"Henri is going to kill me" John said, trying to lighten the mood. We didn't know what happened, not then. I stretched. "You want to race back then?" I asked. He grinned, his face charmingly covered in soot. "Race you to Paradise" He said smiling.

I took off. I figured John could catch up. And he did. We ran at the same stride for a while, eyes only half on the road. Keeping the the other half on the sky. Didn't want to be caught by surprise if there was another freak attack. At the time, I thought that it was a freak attack. That maybe some U.S. army guys, or whoever controlled the bombs had accidentally set one off. That maybe we could sue them for a whole bunch of money and be rich. That was when I was still Maren, still so laughably naive.

We had been a few miles outside of Paradise, when the bomb dropped on Henri's car. It still took us half an hour to get back. We had no idea what was in store for us. We passed the Welcome To Paradise sign, which had been slightly blackened. Neither of us really noticed. To us the sign was just a welcome, just as it had always been. So we had no idea what awaited us.

I've tried to lock the memories of walking into the main square of Paradise down. But every so often I catch a flicker of the destruction behind my eyelids, in my nightmares. I remember piles of rubble, steel skeletons of buildings. And bodies. Lots of bodies. Covered in ash. Bones because the bombs ripped skin and clothing off. I remember saying we were lucky. John had stared at me hard, his eyes tearing up. "How are we lucky if everything we ever cared about is gone?". It was so surreal. Almost like we were in some kind of waking nightmare. Looking back, I don't even think I comprehended what was going on. My brain refused to.

Needless to say, we left the main square fast. Sarahs house was first. The house had collapsed in on itself, we could see the bodies of her mother and father, not Sarah. John kept calling for her though. I didn't. No one could have survived the blast. But John insisted. He sounded like a broken record player, repeating her name over and over. I put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry" I say, my voice cracking. He looks at me, tears rolling down his face. "Lets get out of here" I say softly. He looks at me like I'm crazy. "No. What if there are survivors? What about Sam? And Henri?" He asks me angrily. "You want to leave them?". Tears are rolling down my face. I don't want to go. Not to their houses. Not to see their bodies. I've seen enough today. "John. Don't you think if there were survivors, we'd hear them?" I ask, my voice breaking. John doesn't say anything. Neither do I. The silence lays thick and sorrowful around us, almost choking us.

He ran off. In the direction of Sams house. I follow after reluctantly. I really didn't want to go. I had liked him, well thats what I thought. I wasn't sure. Nothing there. In that the entire house had been entirely obliterated, a few bones stuck out, but there was nothing that we could identify the bones with. The same with Henris house. No one survived. We both stood in front of Henri's house trying to think up good-byes, but neither of us could. I picked some flowers that weren't already dead and put them near the doorstep. First, Katerina, now Henri. That's two guardians gone. We left the house silently.

We scavenged around for awhile after that, trying to find supplies. I won't bore you with the details, because not only are they irrelevant, but I don't want to relive looking through wreckage and bodies for supplies, but in the end we found some water bottles, a motorcycle, sleeping bag, and some energy bars.

We left the smoking hell of Paradise, and rode out onto the road.

Now, we're trying to find other survivors, people like us who somehow survived the fallout. The world is a much more dangerous place, but I can handle it. I always have.

**Authors Note: Sorry for not posting in awhile, I had a serious case of writers block. I promise that starting out, this was not supposed to be as sad as it was. I'm not really going to be focusing on romance (because honestly I've overdosed on it and now I'm done for the moment) but it may make an appearance (along with the rest of the gang). But anyways leave me a review and tell me what you think, and what you want to happen next (I'll take them into consideration). **

**Thank you**

**~Savvy**


	2. Chapter 2

Tonight we're camping out over a hundred miles from Paradise. Maren is already asleep, curled up to conserve warmth. It may be late summer, but that doesn't mean that it can't get cold at night. I poke the fire with a stick, still trying to figure out how she can sleep so... peacefully. Like the world hasn't fallen apart all around us. Every town we've passed has been left in ruins. Sometimes we see people on the road, hungry and weary. I don't think any of them know where they're going, or why. Just that anyplace is better where their lives literally fell to pieces. I know how they feel. Henri is dead. My father, dead. Sarah and Sam, missing. I can't believe they're dead. Not yet. It's a miracle I haven't fallen to pieces.

I know it's thanks to Maren. She's been really understanding with everything, and yet still somehow given us a goal. Chicago. Somewhere to run to. I guess it was to be expected. Maren's world had already fallen apart years ago. When Katarina died. She still doesn't talk much about her life with Katarina, or the years between her death and Henri rescuing her from child services.

I'm startled out of my thoughts by rustling leaves and breaking branches. I look over to Maren, and her eyes meet mine calmly. She puts a finger to her lips. She turns towards the noise. We're nestled in between the trees, but looking back, maybe that wasn't such a good idea. Should we have made camp out in the open? Maren clears her throat loudly, bringing me back to the here and now. She mimes hiding in the underbrush around us, and then raises her eyebrows, looking for my understanding. I nod, and she all but disappears into the trees behind her. I attempt to do the same, but I have the uneasy feeling that Maren has done this many times before.

The crunching becomes louder, and two girls stumble out into the light of the campfire. I start straightening up, ready to go confront them, but a dirty hand covers my mouth and I'm dragged back down. I chomp down on the hand, and Maren curses softly. "Dammit John, that actually hurt. Keep your mouth shut and sit your ass down" she whispers. She removes her hand, and we both resume watching the two girls.

One is definitely older, looking to be about our age, while the smaller girl could be anywhere from 10 to 13. They move cautiously, ready to flee at the smallest sign of trouble. I glance at Maren. Her gaze is calculating, sizing up threat levels and any other visual information she can gather. They look harmless enough to me, just looters looking for supplies. I make another move to go forward, but Maren pushes me back down. "Could be more of them. Could be followed unknowingly. So not yet" I grit my teeth. She has a point, but that doesn't mean I like them rooting through our stuff.

Voices carry on the breeze. Male. Maren smirks at me, an I told you so look. I roll my eyes and nudge her in the ribs to show I don't care, but I can't help but be impressed. She's amazing, although I have no idea how she guessed that there would be people following the two. She pushes me into the ground, lowering herself into the ground with me. "Stay here till I come get you" she whispers. And then she gets up, leaving me in the dirt while she goes to confront the two girls.

Which had actually been my plan all along. So Maren heading out to greet them makes absolutely no sense. But I'll stay behind for now, seeing that she's has something on her talks quietly to the girls, so I can't hear, but judging by their expressions, she's issuing threats or telling them about the voices we heard. Knowing her, probably both. Then she whispers to one of the girls, then addresses the trees. "Hey boys, you gonna make me come in there and beat you, or are you going to come out on your own, cowards?" Her voice, her stance, everything about her screams a challenge.

Men start oozing out of the shadowy forest, and Maren grins devilishly. She strides forward, slipping out of her shirt to reveal a sports bra underneath. Her body glows in the firelight, and I can't help but stare. Maren... Maren is beautiful. In the way that most dangerous predators are. She hasn't looked back to me, so I don't think she wants me to get involved. Not that I really know what to do anyway.

"What? Six of you to chase two girls who haven't done anything to you?" Maren's lips curl in disgust. She pushes both the girls behind her. "If you want them, you're going to have get through me first" she snarls.

**Author's Note: Yayyy second chapters finished:) Obviously this one's from John's point of view (I haven't decided if I'm going to keep writing from different points of view, but there's a good chance that you're gonna see the story from mostly Maren/Six's point of view). But yeah summer has been great, I'm not updating for the next two weeks because I'm going on vacation and probably can't get any computer access. Also, I may be moving soon, but I'll update you guys with that in the next chapter and whether it'll affect me more so in terms of updating.**

**Review please, and thanks for reading:)**

**~Savvy**


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